A mystery horror film with a twist
starred Mickey Rourke as Harry Angel, a private investigator
in New Orleans searching for a missing person - himself (Johnny
Favorite), and encountering young sexy voodoo priestess Epiphany
Proudfoot (Lisa Bonet).

In Paul Verhoeven's sleazy thriller,
Sharon Stone as bisexual blonde - and suspected bad-girl murderess
Catherine Trammel with an ice-pick, flashed her nether region
to a roomful of entranced cops.

Betty Blue (1986, Fr.)

This
unrated French film told about a self-destructive relationship
between a young woman (Beatrice Dalle) and her lover (Jean-Hugues
Anglade) and left little to the imagination.

Bitter Moon (1992)

The dark and perverted side of sexuality (love/hate)
was explored in this Roman Polanski psycho-thriller, between
a wheelchaired husband (Peter Coyote) and his
seductive French wife (Emmanuelle Seigner), as the two were
on an ocean voyage with a prim and proper British
couple (Kristin Scott-Thomas and Hugh Grant).

A not too bright attorney (William Hurt)
passionately fell for a seductive wife (Kathleen Turner) in a
plot to kill her husband in this sultry, film-noirish thriller.

Body of Evidence (1993)

An NC-17 rated erotic thriller starring Willem
Dafoe (as a lawyer) and Madonna (with an outright sexy performance
as a murder suspect) - derided and panned by many critics
for its hot wax S&M sequence and other kinky sex scenes.

Boogie Nights (1997)

The
LA adult film industry of the 1970s-80s was the hard-core
focus of Paul Thomas Anderson's epic, starring Burt Reynolds
as a porn director, Julianne Moore as adult actress Amber Waves,
Heather Graham as Rollergirl, and Mark Wahlberg as well-endowed
Dirk Diggler.

Bound (1996)

This
flick's depiction of Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly's titillating
lesbian romance (and kinky sex life) was as exciting as their
scheme to steal Mafia money.

Breathless (1983)

The
remake of Jean-Luc Godard's French film of the 1960s cast
Richard Gere as a fugitive drifter and sexy Valerie Kaprisky
as his romantic partner.

Cat People (1982)

Paul Schrader's erotic horror film remake (of
the 1942 original) starred lithe Nastassja Kinski as Irena,
doomed to turn into a black leopard if her sexual passions
were stirred. Also with Annette O'Toole in the famous pool
stalking sequence.

The Center of the World
(2001)

A computer dot-com millionaire (Peter Sarsgaard)
hired a club lap-dancer (Molly Parker) for $10,000 to accompany
him to Las Vegas for three-nights of erotic play in this
unrated film.

Color of Night (1994)

The
who-dun-it was liberally laced with sex scenes between a
distressed psychologist (Bruce Willis) and a torrid, mysterious
female (Jane March).

Crash (1996)

David
Cronenberg's controversial, fetishistic study of an automotive
car-crash subculture was not for everyone. After an accident,
unfaithful film producer (James Spader) was introduced to
the cult group with injured victim Dr. Helen Remington (Holly
Hunter), and found that a concluding almost-fatal car crash
involving his wife Catherine (Deborah Kara Unger) was actually
strengthening his marriage.

Crimes of Passion (1984)

Ken Russell's compelling work starred Kathleen
Turner as a fashion designer moonlighting in a double life as street
prostitute China Blue - often terrorized by a crazed, dildo-wielding
preacher (Anthony Perkins).

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

This daring, aristocratic psychodrama was filmed
multiple times - it involved court intrigue, scheming, betrayal
and wagers placed in France a few centuries ago, over whether
Valmont (John Malkovich) could seduce a virtuous
young virgin (Uma Thurman) and a recently-married woman (Michelle
Pfeiffer).

Desert Hearts (1985)

A lesbian-themed romantic drama set in the late
1950s in Reno, Nevada, it realistically and positively told
the story of a growing relationship between free-spirited casino
worker Cay (Patricia Charbonneau) and Columbia University professor
Vivian (Helen Shaver) in town waiting for a divorce.

De
Palma's glossy thriller was a slasher film about a murderous
blonde, a mysterious psychiatrist (Michael Caine), and the
victims: a sexually-adventurous chic lady (Angie Dickinson),
and a call girl (Nancy Allen).

Emmanuelle (1974, Fr.)

This
was the first - and most infamous - of a long series of discreetly-shot,
French soft-core films about the awakening of a suppressed, sexually-curious
female (Sylvia Kristel) in various erotic locales.

The English Patient (1996)

A Best Picture winner, this romantic drama used
flashback as a technique to tell the tale of the badly-burned "English
Patient" Count László de Almásy
(Ralph Fiennes) and his doomed love affair with a married woman
(Kristin Scott-Thomas).

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Kubrick's
last film featured a sophisticated married pair (celebrity
couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) with adulterous impulses
while experimenting with new sexual adventures or experiences.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

Before
murderous and obsessive impulses were activated in this cautionary
tale, happily-married attorney (Michael Douglas) had a weekend
fling with a psycho-siren (Glenn Close).

Femme Fatale (2002)

This
glossy and twisting noirish mystery-thriller from Brian DePalma
began with an eye-popping opener: a sexy jewelry heist involving
two femme fatales (Rebecca
Romijn and Rie Rasmussen) at the Cannes Film Festival.